It is well known in the art to provide for drawer slides comprised of two channels with a ball bearing retainer housing balls to reduce friction which is positioned between the outer and inner channel. Normally the larger channel is affixed to the cabinet sidewalls and the inner channel is affixed to the drawer. Both channels have generally curved side flanges extending substantially at right angles from the web.
Often such slide assemblies are used in filing cabinets in order to support heavy loads in the drawers. It is therefore necessary to provide a stop so that the drawer is not accidentally pulled from the file cabinet.
From time to time however, it is necessary to completely remove the drawer from the cabinet, for cleaning purposes or other reasons. Because of this, various locking/release mechanisms have been employed. Generally these consist of a projection extending from one slide and a pivoting lever being attached to the other. By finger movement the lever is moved from a normal locked position to a second position out of register with the stop, thereby permitting the drawer to be removed from the cabinet.
It has been found however, that such mechanisms are not fool-proof and are often complicated. Many of the lock and release mechanisms presently found in the art are not able to withstand the constant opening and closing of the file cabinets which is normal in today's business world. Moreover, such mechanisms have been found to be costly to produce and complicated to assemble.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a drawer slide release and lock mechanism which is efficient, long-wearing and inexpensive to produce.
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to produce a release/lock mechanism which can readily fit within the webs of the outer and inner channel of a normal two-channel drawer slide.